Casey concerned about AG findings, appoints advisor
Just like a student who fails to meet school standards, the board and management team at Tri-County Regional School Board (Digby, Yarmouth & Shelburne counties) is being put in supervised study.
Education and Early Childhood Minister Karen Casey announced Dec. 3 that she will appoint a ministerial advisor to work with the TCRSB to improve governance and accountability, both found to be lacking in a Dec 3 report by Auditor General Michael Pickup.
The appointment is being made, says a news release from the Department, in response to the results of the auditor general's performance audit of the board, which noted that the governing board doesn’t ask for information on student performance, nor teacher and principal development and evaluation and the board doesn't appropriately evaluate the superintendent’s performance, nor does it have a process to gauge its own progress as a board and that school board management is not monitoring student performance in many subject areas.
"The findings from the auditor general's report are very concerning," said Ms. Casey. "As pleased as I am to know the board and senior staff accepted all of the auditor general's recommendations, it's critical they have the support and guidance they need to ensure the recommendations are implemented in a timely manner.
"I want teachers, students, and their families to know this is a priority."
Some of the key findings from the audit found:
- -- the board's roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined and information needs are not communicated
- -- the board is not effectively overseeing educational results
- -- management does not effectively monitor the school improvement process
- -- management does not monitor student performance in many subject areas
Neither the governing Board nor management at the Tri-County Regional School Board is fully meeting their respective responsibilities, according to a Dec 3 Auditor General's Report. The board and management have failed in their oversight and monitoring of the delivery of educational services in their schools, says the report.
The AG says that board members do not receive sufficient information or spend appropriate effort on the fundamental role of educating students. The Board does not request or receive important information to know whether schools are planning and making sufficient progress towards achieving business plan goals, the academic performance of students is meeting expectations, and the development needs of teachers and principals are met. Roles and responsibilities need to be clearly defined so that they are understood by both the governing Board and management.
The Board has failed to undertake an in-depth analysis to determine the root causes in its schools which are contributing to the underachievement of students in these two areas and the AG recommends they do so, in order to assess why students in the schools are underperforming.
The AG noted also that school improvement plans did not always align with the Board’s priorities, that reporting by schools on progress towards their goals was limited.
The report says that management also needs to ensure school improvement plans address Board and school priorities and reports on progress are timely.
The AG notes that TCRSB management does not regularly monitor progress in many subject areas, including progress of students with individualized program plans.
The AG report outlines 10 recommendations for improvement in AG operations, including an annual self-assessment, address the reasons for the unsatisfactory performance of its students in literacy and numeracy, ensure that staff development needs are being met, ensure timely follow-up is completed to determine if appropriate progress has been made on recommendations.
The report is also available on the auditor general's website at www.oag-ns.ca .
